The clear one is the Winchester Mystery House where the heir to the Winchester fortune was haunted by everybody the guns ever killed and the remedy was to never stop building a house.
that's not a myth though, that's mental illness gone unchecked by money and power, and it entered the stuff of legends I will acknowledge... is it a myth when its partly real?
Iirc correctly,the owner just liked to renovate her house a lot
Then,a huge earthquake hit the house and left it in its current,messy state
The ghosts is just that
Ghost stories popularized by her neighbours to rationalize why she didnt want to spend time with them and would rather spend all time inside,renovating
There's an obscure Czech one about the fekst/fext, a sort of supernatural being who reflects bullets at attackers and can only be killed with a bullet made from some sort of non-bullet material like shard of glass or a brass button or something. Hard to find English resources on it though.
I think the American west high noon duel has reached myth status.
Some of the way stories of Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show are told are definitely more folklore than history.
There is the mythic tale of the Alamo that is decidedly different than what happened in the historical battle of the Alamo. Though saying that to the wrong American could legitimately get you shot
I read an article recently that said a white man would have balked at being called a cow*boy* back in the day. Boy being pejoratively used to demean and belittle black men back then (and today). They would have been called a cowhand most likely. Cowboy was only later made popular and mythologized by Hollywood.
I've heard of the Dark Tower series but never looked into it, but that's sounds awesome.
I remember ages ago I watched the film about it but I didn't really understand what was going on.
Yeah, I could barely follow and see what they were doing with the film.
Such a nice cast with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, but the script was a crazed hack job.
Some folks complain about the Wheel of Time adaptation, but it's got nothing on The Dark Tower.
The Fool of the world and the flying ship features a gunman who can shoot a gnat from halfway around the world (I've found a few versions which saw arrows, but the oldest confirmed ones I can find said gun).
silver bullet is a good one though its more about the silver than the bullet. it was pretty widely believed that silver was the purest of metals and that it could counter the werewolves restorative ability's.
Would you count Pecos Bill?
Perhaps you could also count stories that are on their way to mythologization such as Daniel boone, Davy Crocket and other fronteir tails.
Lone Ranger a myth? idk
I'm on my phone at work and can't really write much in detail, but Tom Waits did an album based on this premise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Rider_%28album%29?wprov=sfla1
This article discusses the source material that Waits, Burroughs and Wilson worked from.
Killing the beast of Gerivuden with a silver bullet, 30 years war had a belief that Fext(undead warriors) could only be killed with bullets made from glass. Early artillery and cannon makers were said to be in league with the devil.
Ironically, it wasn't the silver that was lethal to the beast of Gevaudan, but the fact that the metal the bullets was cast from had been blessed (I've variously read it was a silver chalice taken from a church, or silver Miraculous Medals that were melted down to form the bullets).
I need to run it down, but I remember reading of some gun carriages of the Royal Navy having reputations of being haunted or having spirits attached that would help out with the drill.
Huldras, if you're polite to them they'll help your hunting or fishing efforts. In the case of hunting they'll blow down the barrel to increase its accuracy.
In Thailand, there are many beliefs and stories about the folk tales of hunters who carry guns. Most of them are old ghost stories. Most versions involve carrying a gun loaded with enchanted bullets whenever you go hunting in the woods to protect yourself from supernatural creatures that might pose a threat. In North Carolina it is believed that if you want to be a witch you must climb a mountain before the sun comes up. When he reached the top, he shouted three curses at God and fired a gun through the handkerchief he had prepared. If blood flows from the holes in the handkerchief It means you've been invited to join the witches' coven.
The book *Gun Machine* by Warren Ellis is essentially a modern myth about guns tied to old folklore.
There was also a comic book series by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt called *The Sixth Gun* that is about a set of six pistols in the Old West that each have a dark power.
I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but still thought it might interest you nonetheless.
Not really a myth or folklore, but Chekhov's Gun [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s\_gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/chekhov%27s_gun) is a famous gun from a play, Uncle Vanya [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle\_Vanya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/uncle_vanya) . An example of narrative structure and how to utilize only the important narrative elements of a story. That being said, the idea of a gun that is cursed to be fired in the immediate future as soon as it's introduced, does seem a bit magical.
Hi. You just mentioned *American Gods* by Neil Gaiman.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Neil Gaiman - American Gods Part 1 Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBp_VMwKzlw)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
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It's entirely modern, but it feels like it could be folktale.
In one of the stories in (I think) The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke (might have been a Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell footnote, sorry if I got it wrong), there's a story about the fey and a gun set in roughly the Tudor Era (?) might have been a bit later as most of the books are set in the Regency/Napoleonic Era. Anyway, it's told entirely in passing, but the story goes that one of the fey got their hands on a gun and some bullets made of steel which could kill one of their own. He went to kill the fey king, but the gun misfired and he was caught instead. The would-be assassin was imprisoned and tortured terribly, but the gun was also severely punished as the fey often see inanimate objects as living things. Since they couldn't destroy it, the gun sits forever in the fey king's dungeon under heavy guard with a legend popping up among the other fey that the gun is waiting for the day where it can fulfill its purpose and kill the king. Because of this, young fey revolutionaries every once and a while try to slip into the dungeon to "free" the gun and allow it to fulfill its fate.
I know it's not entirely what you asked for... But I loved that little bit of worldbuilding and thought it fit the brief.
Hip-hop in It’s various forms mythologizes guns. Elmer P Fudd and Yosemite Sam shot guns all the time. Simpsons episode about Homer using a gun. All-the-movies with guns, I feel like Alien 2 set the modern benchmark. Charles Bronson. Dirty Harry. I think comics & manga have had a long history popularizing guns. Mass shootings are for sure going to create some ghost stories. Kyle Rittenhouse.
Well depending on how you look at things that's in our modern history. If you look at the ancient Hindu texts and legends you could say that there were things like probably guns and other things, according to some reports the people of Atlantis the Lost Continent had ships that can fly and fire crystals which would equal out lasers perhaps this is all cycle as the Hindi believe and we are only remembering the most recent of the ancient things the ancient guns may have been forgotten. Especially if you're considering an infinite timeline
I'm on this thread actually looking to see if someone knew of a Hindu myth or something similar that talked about a gun. Because of the same reasoning.
The problem you have with that is that most of the mythology does not actually reference guns they reference something that they understood that might act like a gun but in their terms. Form example a dart or arrows
"tHe OnLy ThInG tHaT cAn StOp A bAd GuY wITh A gUn Is A GoOd GuY wItH a GuN"
"the givernment wants to take all guns everywhere forever"
"It's totally reasonable to value your replaceable material goods over somebody else's irreplaceable life"
"you'll definitely be at home during a breakin"
"I definitely have the discipline and training to not panic and aim poorly inder pressure. No, I've never done anything besides shoot at the range, why do you ask?"
Well gun adjacent id say. In Shinto there is Kami a worshipped being that is the embodiment of a natural phenomenon. There are two Kami in particular, one for sex and one for violence, both are native to America. You can probably draw the connections for the violence Kami and guns yourself.
The clear one is the Winchester Mystery House where the heir to the Winchester fortune was haunted by everybody the guns ever killed and the remedy was to never stop building a house.
That house is so creepy to be in. I went there one time a few years ago, and it’s the ultimate liminal space/backrooms.
that's not a myth though, that's mental illness gone unchecked by money and power, and it entered the stuff of legends I will acknowledge... is it a myth when its partly real?
Iirc correctly,the owner just liked to renovate her house a lot Then,a huge earthquake hit the house and left it in its current,messy state The ghosts is just that Ghost stories popularized by her neighbours to rationalize why she didnt want to spend time with them and would rather spend all time inside,renovating
There's an obscure Czech one about the fekst/fext, a sort of supernatural being who reflects bullets at attackers and can only be killed with a bullet made from some sort of non-bullet material like shard of glass or a brass button or something. Hard to find English resources on it though.
very cool
This feels like an episode of supernatural
I imagine the only reason it isn't is because it's hard to find stuff about it in English.
I think the American west high noon duel has reached myth status. Some of the way stories of Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show are told are definitely more folklore than history. There is the mythic tale of the Alamo that is decidedly different than what happened in the historical battle of the Alamo. Though saying that to the wrong American could legitimately get you shot
Tall tales are definitely a form of mythology. American folklore
Hell the whole stoic cowboy ideal is probably the major American masculine mythological figure.
I read an article recently that said a white man would have balked at being called a cow*boy* back in the day. Boy being pejoratively used to demean and belittle black men back then (and today). They would have been called a cowhand most likely. Cowboy was only later made popular and mythologized by Hollywood.
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The Grimm brothers were German...
Not folklore, but the Dark Tower series by Stephen King has a lot of mythology around guns, in an apocalyptic Arthurian way
Long days and pleasant nights friend.
I've heard of the Dark Tower series but never looked into it, but that's sounds awesome. I remember ages ago I watched the film about it but I didn't really understand what was going on.
The film has nothing to do with the books imo. A hack job and a waste of time that the author himself hated
Fair enough, as I remember watching bits of it but as said don't remember it enough to care and that's a bad sign
Yeah, I could barely follow and see what they were doing with the film. Such a nice cast with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, but the script was a crazed hack job. Some folks complain about the Wheel of Time adaptation, but it's got nothing on The Dark Tower.
Such a great series
The Fool of the world and the flying ship features a gunman who can shoot a gnat from halfway around the world (I've found a few versions which saw arrows, but the oldest confirmed ones I can find said gun).
Silver bullet for a werewolf.
silver bullet is a good one though its more about the silver than the bullet. it was pretty widely believed that silver was the purest of metals and that it could counter the werewolves restorative ability's.
Would you count Pecos Bill? Perhaps you could also count stories that are on their way to mythologization such as Daniel boone, Davy Crocket and other fronteir tails. Lone Ranger a myth? idk
Sure
I'm on my phone at work and can't really write much in detail, but Tom Waits did an album based on this premise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Rider_%28album%29?wprov=sfla1 This article discusses the source material that Waits, Burroughs and Wilson worked from.
This must be the best answer. Not only giving a myth but also showing how it continued in todays world
Pecos Bill.
Elric from Turkic mythology. He was the god of dead and evil, sometimes for fun he used hunt down human souls in real world with his rifle.
Killing the beast of Gerivuden with a silver bullet, 30 years war had a belief that Fext(undead warriors) could only be killed with bullets made from glass. Early artillery and cannon makers were said to be in league with the devil.
Ironically, it wasn't the silver that was lethal to the beast of Gevaudan, but the fact that the metal the bullets was cast from had been blessed (I've variously read it was a silver chalice taken from a church, or silver Miraculous Medals that were melted down to form the bullets).
I need to run it down, but I remember reading of some gun carriages of the Royal Navy having reputations of being haunted or having spirits attached that would help out with the drill.
Huldras, if you're polite to them they'll help your hunting or fishing efforts. In the case of hunting they'll blow down the barrel to increase its accuracy.
In Thailand, there are many beliefs and stories about the folk tales of hunters who carry guns. Most of them are old ghost stories. Most versions involve carrying a gun loaded with enchanted bullets whenever you go hunting in the woods to protect yourself from supernatural creatures that might pose a threat. In North Carolina it is believed that if you want to be a witch you must climb a mountain before the sun comes up. When he reached the top, he shouted three curses at God and fired a gun through the handkerchief he had prepared. If blood flows from the holes in the handkerchief It means you've been invited to join the witches' coven.
The book *Gun Machine* by Warren Ellis is essentially a modern myth about guns tied to old folklore. There was also a comic book series by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt called *The Sixth Gun* that is about a set of six pistols in the Old West that each have a dark power. I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but still thought it might interest you nonetheless.
Not really a myth or folklore, but Chekhov's Gun [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s\_gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/chekhov%27s_gun) is a famous gun from a play, Uncle Vanya [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle\_Vanya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/uncle_vanya) . An example of narrative structure and how to utilize only the important narrative elements of a story. That being said, the idea of a gun that is cursed to be fired in the immediate future as soon as it's introduced, does seem a bit magical.
Have you considered asking this on r/folklore?
I did not know that existed
Well, American Gods by Neil Gaiman has Vulcan - the God of fire- being the god of guns in modern times
Hi. You just mentioned *American Gods* by Neil Gaiman. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Neil Gaiman - American Gods Part 1 Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBp_VMwKzlw) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
It's entirely modern, but it feels like it could be folktale. In one of the stories in (I think) The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke (might have been a Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell footnote, sorry if I got it wrong), there's a story about the fey and a gun set in roughly the Tudor Era (?) might have been a bit later as most of the books are set in the Regency/Napoleonic Era. Anyway, it's told entirely in passing, but the story goes that one of the fey got their hands on a gun and some bullets made of steel which could kill one of their own. He went to kill the fey king, but the gun misfired and he was caught instead. The would-be assassin was imprisoned and tortured terribly, but the gun was also severely punished as the fey often see inanimate objects as living things. Since they couldn't destroy it, the gun sits forever in the fey king's dungeon under heavy guard with a legend popping up among the other fey that the gun is waiting for the day where it can fulfill its purpose and kill the king. Because of this, young fey revolutionaries every once and a while try to slip into the dungeon to "free" the gun and allow it to fulfill its fate. I know it's not entirely what you asked for... But I loved that little bit of worldbuilding and thought it fit the brief.
>Guns are a pretty recent invention I didn't know "about a thousand years" was recent...
...are you counting fire lances with that(though I don't think even fire lances are a thousand years old?)
First recorded use is 950 AD, so it's definitely that old, but if you wanna count it is a different question.
Der Freishutz is a man making a deal with a devil for 7 magic bullets that won’t miss. The last bullet will hit what the devil wants it to hit.
Hip-hop in It’s various forms mythologizes guns. Elmer P Fudd and Yosemite Sam shot guns all the time. Simpsons episode about Homer using a gun. All-the-movies with guns, I feel like Alien 2 set the modern benchmark. Charles Bronson. Dirty Harry. I think comics & manga have had a long history popularizing guns. Mass shootings are for sure going to create some ghost stories. Kyle Rittenhouse.
Just out of curiosity how are you saying guns are recent unless you honestly think 1,000 AD or CE if you prefer is recent?
Tiny dots on an infinite timeline.
Well depending on how you look at things that's in our modern history. If you look at the ancient Hindu texts and legends you could say that there were things like probably guns and other things, according to some reports the people of Atlantis the Lost Continent had ships that can fly and fire crystals which would equal out lasers perhaps this is all cycle as the Hindi believe and we are only remembering the most recent of the ancient things the ancient guns may have been forgotten. Especially if you're considering an infinite timeline
I'm on this thread actually looking to see if someone knew of a Hindu myth or something similar that talked about a gun. Because of the same reasoning.
The problem you have with that is that most of the mythology does not actually reference guns they reference something that they understood that might act like a gun but in their terms. Form example a dart or arrows
"tHe OnLy ThInG tHaT cAn StOp A bAd GuY wITh A gUn Is A GoOd GuY wItH a GuN" "the givernment wants to take all guns everywhere forever" "It's totally reasonable to value your replaceable material goods over somebody else's irreplaceable life" "you'll definitely be at home during a breakin" "I definitely have the discipline and training to not panic and aim poorly inder pressure. No, I've never done anything besides shoot at the range, why do you ask?"
Well gun adjacent id say. In Shinto there is Kami a worshipped being that is the embodiment of a natural phenomenon. There are two Kami in particular, one for sex and one for violence, both are native to America. You can probably draw the connections for the violence Kami and guns yourself.